Smart giving program

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system and method that generally comprises a management/technology consulting service provider (SP) that is a registered charitable organization, a donor, and one or more non-profit/charitable donees/recipients. The method of the present invention allows a donor to contribute funds and receive a basket of hours that may be used at the donor&#39;s discretion to provide designated non-profit/charitable donees/recipients with management and/or technology consulting services. The process is facilitated by an agreement that is tailored to the needs and goals of the donor. The agreement details the hours that will be provided and the method by which the donor will designate, or direct, the use of the hours. Once the agreement is executed, the donor transfers the funds to the SP. The work performed by the SP for the designated donees/recipients may be clearly identified as having been provided by the respective donor. The SP then reports back to the donor on the results of the services provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application derives priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 60/550,939 filed Mar. 5, 2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for a charitable intermediary(i.e. a service provider) to facilitate income tax deductible charitablecontributions from donors to specified charities and non-profitorganizations for consulting services. In return for the charitablecontributions to the intermediary, the donor receives a commitment toprovide a predetermined bundle of services to a charity of the donor'schoice. In short, this method for intermediary donation/transactionmanagement allows a donor to receive, in return for its contribution, acommitted basket of hours that are used at the donor's discretion toprovide consulting services to one or more designated charities.

2. Description of the Background

The philanthropic process is evolving because of changes in theattitudes and expectations of individual and corporate donors. Due, inpart, to the unprecedented number of charities and nonprofitorganizations (hereinafter referred to collectively as “charity” in thesingular and “charities” in the plural) competing for limited dollars,there exists a desire for “donor-directed giving.” Donors are demanding,and receiving, the opportunity to oversee the way in which donated fundsare being used by charities. Donors are demanding this in order toensure that their donated funds, or services purchased with those funds,are actually being utilized by a charity for its exempt purposes.

The present inventor is not the first to address the need for a meansfor managing, or overseeing, non-profit/charitabledonations/transactions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,041 to Canney, U.S. Pat. No.5,909,794 to Molbak et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,518 to Helbling, andU.S. Pat. No. 5,466,919 to Hovakimian, as well as U.S. PatentApplication Nos. 2003/0177084 to Cassani et al., 2003/0110049 to Boys,2002/0147621 to Smith, III, 2002/0120539 to Price, and 2002/0052756 toLomangino disclose a variety of means for donation/transactionmanagement.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,041 to Canney discloses a method of systematicallylinking investing with giving by designing a fee structure within aninvestment whereby a part of the fee is automatically transferred to adonor-selected account within a charitable community foundation. U.S.Pat. No. 5,909,794 to Molbak et al. discloses a donation transactionapparatus and method for facilitating donations to charitableorganizations. The apparatus is configured to receive coins/cash, fundstransfer authorizations, or credit charges, and then preferablydispenses a donation receipt to the donor which the donor may use toprepare or document income tax returns. Preferably, the donor is able toselect among a plurality of charitable organizations to receive thedonation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,518 to Helbling discloses a central officethat correlates charitable contributions made at vending stations infood service establishments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,919 to Hovakimiandiscloses a method that enables a credit cardholder to make a donationto a cardholder-selected charity any time he makes a purchase using thecredit card. The method may be described as being a bank expeditedcharity donation approach for credit/charge cardholders.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0177084 to Cassani et al. discloses aninvestment fund in which a portion of the assessed investment fund feesand/or investment fund service providers' fees are designated fordonation to charitable causes as directed by each of the investmentfund's shareholders. Donation amounts are then tracked and paid tocharities on a periodic basis according to the designations on therecords of the investment fund. U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0110049to Boys discloses a system for direct donation utilizing anInternet-connected server accessible by potential donors using anInternet browser and a data store accessible to the server, and storinginformation about potential recipients that are pre-qualified fordonations. A software suite executing on the server has at least a firstfacility enabling a potential donor to view specific information aboutqualified recipients of donations, and a second facility enabling thesame donor to select a recipient and make a direct donation to theselected recipient.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0147621 to Smith, III discloses anautomated method for allowing one or more donors to make periodicdonations to one or more organizations with a single payment for eachperiod, and to communicate requests for action to said organizations.The method allows donors to select one or more organizations to donateto, and to specify a specific amount to donate to each.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0120539 to Price discloses methods andsystems for distributing charitable donations at the point of sale toqualified donees in the manner specified by a donor. A charitabledonation is distributed in the form of purchase credits toward thepurchase of the verified products or services in accordance with atleast one donor subscription agreement.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0052756 to Lomangino discloses a systemin which donor members transfer items to recipient members withoutreceiving economic remuneration from the recipient members.

In summary of all the foregoing, (i) some form of central database forcorrelating, coordinating, and/or tabulating charitable contributions isdisclosed in the Helbling '518 patent (i.e. a central office) and theBoys patent application (i.e. an Internet-connected server), (ii)donor-directed giving is included in the Canney, Molbak et al., andHovakimian patents and the Cassani et al., Smith, III, Lomangino, andBoys patent applications, (iii) donor-specified actions are found in theSmith, III patent application, and (iv) a subscription agreementallowing a donor to dictate the manner in which a donation will be usedto purchase verified “services” is disclosed in the Price patentapplication. However, none of the above-discussed prior art referencesdisclose a system/method that (i) includes a management/technologyconsulting service provider (SP) as a registered charitableorganization, (ii) negotiates and executes a formal donation agreement,prior to the transfer of a directed contribution from the donor directlyto the SP, (iii) specifies the type and amount of consulting servicesthat are to be provided to one or more donees or (iv) requires the SP tomake a full report back to the donor on the results of those consultingservices. In today's environment of increasing public scrutiny andgovernment regulations, the nonprofit community needs to work in closerpartnership with their investors to ensure that dollars are spent wiselyand the maximum return on investment occurs for both those who receiveservices and those who invest in those services. Nonprofits needinformation systems and strategic plans that provide for greateraccountability, outcome measurement and increased operationalefficiency, and yet today's social investors insist on low overhead inthe nonprofits they support, which in turn may preclude the nonprofitsability to invest in the management and technology systems that areessential to delivering effective services. Therefore, there remains aneed for a system and method that provides a substantial degree ofutility in delivering donor-specified management and technologyconsulting services to one or more non-profit/charitabledonees/recipients. A more proficient program will include the generalsteps of (i) establishing a consulting services provider (i.e. amanagement/technology consulting SP) as a registered charitableorganization, (ii) negotiating and executing a formal donation agreementbetween the SP and a donor prior to the donation of consulting servicesto a charity, (iii) identifying the originating donor of the consultingservices to the charity, (iv) providing the charity with thepre-defined/pre-arranged consulting services, and (v) providing a reportto the donor regarding the results of the services provided by SP to thecharity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improvedsystem and method for intermediary donation/transaction management.Specifically, to provide such a system that allows a donor to receive,in return for its income tax-deductible donation to a non-profitintermediary, a committed basket of hours that are used at the donor'sdirection to provide the intermediary SP's consulting services to adesignated non-profit/charitable donees/recipients. The non-profitintermediary involvement in facilitating the program affords the doneeall tax advantages, and further allows donor oversight and directionover the use of donated funds. This bridges the gap by incentivizinginvestments in non-profit information technology and strategic plansthat provide for greater accountability, outcome measurement andincreased operational efficiency.

It is another object to multiply and increases the lifespan of a donor'sgift and to provide greater accountability for it.

It is another object to provide donors with measurable outcomes thatdemonstrate concrete results.

It is still another object to save nonprofit organizations from devotingresources to identifying, hiring and managing an outside consultant toprovide crucial management and technology services.

It is a more specific object to provide an improved system and methodfor use in managing non-profit/charitable donations that begins with theestablishment of a service provider (i.e. a management/technologyconsulting service provider) as a registered charitable organizationand, once established, to rely on the service provider to facilitate thenegotiation of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the serviceprovider and a donor prior to the charitable gift, which Memorandum ofUnderstanding is then formally executed. The Memorandum of Understandingclearly identifies the donor and provides attribution for the giftedmanagement/technology consulting services to the one or more recipientcharities. It also pre-defines specific management/technology consultingservices to be provided to the charities.

It is another object to rely on the service provider to deliver theagreed-upon consulting services per the memorandum of Understanding andaccount back to the donor on the results of the services delivered.

These and other objectives are accomplished by a method that begins withthe formation of an consulting service intermediary (i.e. amanagement/technology consulting service provider) (SP) registered as acharitable organization, a donor who desires to donate consultingservices to one or more non-profit organizations, and one or morecharities in need of and willing to accept a donation in the form ofconsulting services. The method of the present invention allows anindividual or corporate donor to make tax-favored contributions of fundsto the intermediary service provider and receive a basket of servicehours that may be used at the donor's direction to provide designatedcharities with consulting services (i.e. management and/or technologyconsulting services). The process is facilitated by a negotiatedagreement (Memorandum of Understanding) between a prospective donor andthe service provider on behalf of a designated third party beneficiary,a non-profit donee, to allow the donee to obtain a package of consultingservices (i.e. basket of hours) tailored as directed by the donor to theneeds of the donee charity. The Memorandum of Understanding details thehours that will be provided and the method by which the donor willdesignate, or direct, the use of those hours. Once the agreement isexecuted, the donor transfers finds to the service provider for which itreceives an immediate charitable income tax deduction. The work is thenperformed by the service provider for the designated charities, and thework is branded as having been provided by the respective donor. Theservice provider then reports back to the donor on the results of theservices provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description of thepreferred embodiments and certain modifications thereof when takentogether with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic showing the relationship between an intermediarymanagement/technology consulting service provider 10 according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention, a donor 20, andnon-profit/charitable donees/recipients 30.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the donor management method/process 100, fornon-profit/charitable contributions, according to a preferred embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 3 (parts 3A & 3B) comprises an exemplary Memorandum ofUnderstanding to be used at step 120 between the donor 20 and the SP 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic showing the relationship between amanagement/technology consulting service provider (SP) 10 according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention, a donor 20, and one ormore non-profit/charitable donees/recipients 30. The schematicessentially indicates the flow of funds, information, and/or servicesamong the three entities 10, 20, 30. Funds and information flow from thedonor 20 to the service provider 10 along arrow 40. Information flowsfrom the SP 10 back to the donor 20 along arrow 42. Lastly, consultingservices and information regarding the donation of those consultingservices flow from the SP 10 to the donee(s)/recipient(s) 30 (See arrow44). The flow of finds, information, and/or services will be discussedin greater detail below with respect to the donor managementmethod/process 100 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed flowchart of the donor managementmethod/process 100 for non-profit/charitable contributions, according tothe preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Initially, the management/technology consulting service provider (SP) 20is established and must be registered with the Internal Revenue Serviceas a charitable organization. Once this is accomplished, themethod/process 100 begins, at step 110, with an information transaction(preferably a meeting, phone conference, etc.) between the SP 10 (seeFIG. 1) and a prospective donor 20 (see again FIG. 1).

The purpose of the transaction is, as shown in step 120, to negotiatethe terms of a donor agreement or “Memorandum of Understanding.” Inorder to negotiate the agreement (step 120) information must flowbetween the SP 10 and the donor 20 along arrows 40 and 42 of FIG. 1. Theterms of the agreement 200 must include the amount of money the donor 20is willing to contribute and the number of hours of the SP's consultingservices that such a donation will procure. The agreement 200 shouldalso identify the donor's intended donee(s)/recipient(s) 30 and themanner by which the donor 20 will instruct the SP 10 to deliver/provide(i.e. when, to whom) the management/technology consulting services. Oncethe terms have been finalized, they are reduced to a written agreementthat is executed by the parties (SP and Donor) 10, 20 at step 130.

FIG. 3 (parts 3A & 3B) comprises an exemplary Memorandum ofUnderstanding to be used at step 120 between the donor 20 and the SP 10.The Memorandum of Understanding reflects all material terms to theagreement.

Again referring to FIG. 2, in accordance with the agreement (at step140) the donor 20 transfers the appropriate funds to the SP 10 (seearrow 40 of FIG. 1) and receives in return, at step 150, a commitmentfrom the SP 10 to provide a predefined basket of hours ofmanagement/technology consulting services to one or more specifiednon-profits 30. The number of consulting hours available/remaining in adonor's “basket” are typically tracked in an accounting system,computerized or otherwise, maintained by the SP 10.

A web-based tracking tool may be used to allow the consultants to reporton the number of hours provided to each recipient and thus reporting canbe accessed by the donor through a virtual private network whenconsultants are out of the office.

At step 160, when appropriate and, again, in accordance with the termsof the agreement, the donor 20 designates the services and number ofhours of service that are to be delivered to one or more of thenon-profit/charitable donee(s)/recipient(s) 30 (see FIG. 1) by the SP10. The range of consulting services provided to the clients include,but are not limited to, Strategy, Management, Analytics, Reporting andTechnology consulting.

The information designating the services and intendeddonee(s)/recipient(s) 30, flowing from the donor 20 to the SP 10, isrepresented by arrow 40 in FIG. 1.

Prior to the delivery of the services from the SP 10 to thedonee(s)/recipient(s) 30, the donee(s)/recipient(s) 30 is/are providedwith information including the identity of the donor 20 at step 170 (Seealso flow of information along arrow 44 of FIG. 1).

At step 180, the SP 10 provides the donated consulting services (i.e.management and/or technology consulting services) to thenon-profit/charitable donee(s)/recipient(s) 30. At steps 170 and 180,the transfer/delivery of the donor's identity and the consultingservices from the SP 10 to the donee(s)/recipient(s) 30 are representedby arrow 44 in FIG. 1.

Finally, at step 190 of the method/process 100, the SP 10 submits areport of the results of the consulting services to the donor 20 (i.e.how the non-profit/charitable donee(s)/recipient(s) 30 benefitted fromthe receipt of the management and/or technology consulting services).This flow of information is represented by arrow 42 of FIG. 1.

In today's philanthropic environment, the non-profit/charitablecommunity needs to operate in partnership with their donors to insurethat donated funds are spent wisely. Donor's are mandating the maximumpossible return on investment for their charitable gifts. Charities needsystems and strategic plans that provide for greater accountability,outcome measurement, and increased operational efficiency.

The present invention represents an innovative way to providecontemporary donors/philanthropists with an opportunity to directtailored management and technology consulting services to achieve theirlong-term philanthropic goals and improve the overall health of thedonee charitable organizations. Individual, corporate, and foundationaldonors that support non-profit/charitable organizations can maximizetheir philanthropic investment and assist in the creation ofself-sustaining organizations through the utilization of the presentinvention. The present invention helps donated funds to go farther anddo more, thereby strengthening a donor's investment in a charity.

Donors today insist on low overhead costs in the charities they support.However, overhead expenditures do not allow charities to invest in themanagement and technology systems that are essential to effectivelydelivering charitable services. The present invention provides a novelmeans for supporting charitable organizations, and allows charities toincrease their overall impact in the communities they serve.

The method and process of the present invention provides a substantialdegree of utility in delivering management and/or technology consultingservices to non-profit/charitable organizations in an efficient and costeffective manner. The primary benefits of the present invention include:

1. An increase in the effective value of donations when used for thedirect purchase of consulting services from a non-profitmanagement/technology consulting service provider.

2. Greater accountability, provided to the donor, as to the nature andresults of the consulting services purchased with a donation.

3. Measurable outcomes demonstrating concrete results of themanagement/technology consulting services delivered to charity.

4. Delivery of consulting solutions to charitable organizations at nocost, as opposed to the use of budgeted dollars to pay for costlyfor-profit management or technology consulting firms.

5. Charitable donee(s) do not have to devote resources to identifying,hiring, and managing a third party consulting firm to provide crucialmanagement and technology consultation services.

Having now fully set forth the preferred embodiment and certainmodifications of the concept underlying the present invention, variousother embodiments as well as certain variations and modifications of theembodiments herein shown and described will obviously occur to thoseskilled in the art upon becoming familiar with said underlying concept.It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention may be practicedotherwise than as specifically set forth in the appended claims.

1. A method of facilitating the provision of management or technologyconsulting services to non-profit/charitable organizations, comprising:a first step of establishing a consulting service provider as aregistered charitable organization; a second step of negotiating andexecuting a formal donation agreement between the consulting serviceprovider and a donor for the provision of pre-defined consultingservices to a designated charity; a third step of said consultingservice provider providing the designated charity with the pre-definedconsulting services; and a fifth step of said consulting serviceprovider providing a report to the donor accounting for results of theservices provided to the charity.
 2. A method of facilitating theprovision of management or technology consulting services tonon-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 1, wherein saidmanagement or technology consulting services include any from a groupconsisting of strategy consulting, management consulting, analytics,reporting, and technology consulting.
 3. A method of facilitating theprovision of management or technology consulting services tonon-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 1, wherein saidsecond step further comprises a substep of said donor transferringfunding directly to the consulting service provider after said executionof a formal donation agreement.
 4. A method of facilitating theprovision of management or technology consulting services tonon-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 1, wherein saidsecond step further comprises a first sub-step of said donortransferring funding directly to the consulting service provider aftersaid execution of the formal donation agreement.
 5. A method offacilitating the provision of management or technology consultingservices to non-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 4,wherein said second step further comprises a second sub-step of saidconsulting service provider providing said donor with a writtencommitment to provide a predefined number of hours of consultingservices to said charity after said execution of the formal donationagreement.
 6. A method of facilitating the provision of management ortechnology consulting services to non-profit/charitable organizationsaccording to claim 5, wherein said third step further comprises saidconsulting service provider providing said predefined number of hours ofconsulting services to said charity after said execution of the formaldonation agreement.
 7. A method of facilitating the provision ofmanagement or technology consulting services to non-profit/charitableorganizations according to claim 6, wherein said fifth step of providinga report to the donor further comprises tracking in an accounting systema number of consulting hours remaining to be provided to the charity bysaid consulting service provider.
 8. A method of facilitating theprovision of management or technology consulting services tonon-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 1, wherein saidthird step further comprises said consulting service provider brandingthe consulting services provided to said charity with an identity ofsaid donor.
 9. A method of facilitating the provision of management ortechnology consulting services to non-profit/charitable organizationsaccording to claim 7, wherein said fifth step of providing a report tothe donor further comprises a report of how the charity benefited fromthe receipt of said consulting services.
 10. A method of facilitatingthe provision of management and/or technology consulting services tonon-profit/charitable organizations, comprising the steps of: conductinga meeting between a non-profit management/technology consulting serviceprovider and a donor; negotiating terms for a donor agreement betweensaid consulting service provider and said donor; reducing said terms ofsaid donor agreement to a written instrument; executing said writtendonor agreement between said consulting service provider and said donor;transferring funds to said consulting service provider from said donor;creating a donor account containing a basket of hours ofmanagement/technology consulting services; designating a quantity ofmanagement and/or technology consulting hours to be delivered by saidconsulting service provider to one or more non-profit/charitabledonees/recipients; identifying said donor to said one or morenon-profit/charitable donees/recipients; delivering said designatedquantity of management and/or technology consulting hours to said one ormore non-profit/charitable donees/recipients by said consulting serviceprovider; tracking the hours of management/technology consultingservices remaining in said basket using an accounting system maintainedby said consulting service provider; and reporting all results of saidmanagement/technology consulting services to said donor.
 11. The methodof facilitating the provision of management and/or technology consultingservices to non-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 10,wherein said step of negotiating terms for a donor agreement furthercomprises negotiating a predefined amount of money the donor is willingto contribute, and a predefined number of hours of the service provideris willing to provide for said predefined amount of money.
 12. Themethod of facilitating the provision of management and/or technologyconsulting services to non-profit/charitable organizations according toclaim 11, wherein said step of negotiating terms for a donor agreementfurther comprises identifying the donor's intended charity recipient ofsaid consulting services and a predefined manner by which consultingservice provider is to deliver said services.
 13. The method offacilitating the provision of management and/or technology consultingservices to non-profit/charitable organizations according to claim 12,wherein said predefined manner by which consulting service provider isto deliver said services includes when said services will be providedand by whom.